1965 Ford Mustang Rare Front Bench Seat and Centre Armrest

This is the armrest  before I disassembled it , its seen better days looks like someone took to stabbing it with a knife.

Not too bad shape though, still able to work with. 

Good white hinge covers that were not split just needing a good clean up.

The center Armrest is still in good shape although it will need new upholstery and some internal repairs.

I got this one from Old Dominion Mustang / Camaro

See http://www.oldominion.com

Original Plywood is a bit damaged, but the shape is there for a good template.

Still trying to locate another center hinge pivot bolt like the one above, may have to make one up untill I get the correct part.

I made a note of all the part numbers for other armrest parts should anyone else need to source parts

This part number is for the lower Armrest Foam pad

C5ZB-6565478-B-KZ-22  

C5ZB-6565478-B-KZ-4 is for the upper part of the arm rest foam pad.

Top and bottom halves together.

LH Hinge cover part number is C5ZB-6561693-BW

RH Hinge Cover  part number is C5ZB-6561692-BW

Here the Armrest bracket has been removed from the arm rest and rust treated and painted in CRC Zinc paint

New center armrest made from Plywood as the original was.

Top View with hing re-attached

Underneath view

Ford part number is C5ZZ 65654A28 A which fits 1965 and 1966 Mustangs.

I managed to get some genuine Ford plastic bushings for the Armrest hinges on Ebay from Dawnie Wood's, Obsolete parts, these are no longer available and I have not been able to get them from the normal Mustang Parts suppliers.

You can still find a few people that have NOS stock of these, check ebay.

I found a pack of 15 so I have some left over as spares.

I also have a couple of bucket seats that I can fit to the car as an option as well but for the moment I'll continue to use the bench seat

Here I have glued the original foam rubber covers onto the new plywood frame.

All fits together very nicely just had to trim foam down were it sticks out a bit and recovered with a thinner foam to keep the shape.

Hinge and armrest all back together with pivot bolt and bushing that rolls between upright position and down position

New upholstery from TMI perfect fit got this kit from Virginia Classic Mustang Florida.

I had to put everything together to make sure everything lined up and there was enough clearances between the individual seat parts.

The base was the hardest part to upholster this was quiet a wrestle, you have to put a lot of force to get things fitting right. Each line of seams going front to back need attaching to the base so that the upholstery holds the correct shape when all together.

Back end of center arm rest with factory stainless trim.

Drivers side of the base is done now to finish off the passenger side.

Check out this website for help with reupholstery of Mustang Front Bench Seat

www.mustangandfords.com/howto/38520_reupholster_bench_seats

Finally all bolted into the car.

Bench Seats in Mustangs were very rare, see chart below, only 2,111 of 73,112 convertibles produced in 1965 came with a front Bench Seat option.

That was a total of 17, 016 out of  the 559, 451 Mustangs produced in 1965.